Illegal streaming: Rojadirecta.me ordered to pay €100,000 to the French LFP and remove LFP content

The TGI (civil court) of Paris (FRA), which has French jurisdiction, ruled in favour of the French LFP by ruling that the Spanish illegal streaming website Rojadirecta.me (hosted in Montenegro) had the legal status of a content publisher, and not just a content host, on 19/03/2015. This distinction makes Rojadirecta responsible for the content it hosts. The LFP had brought the case to the TGI for it to be recognised that Rojadirecta's activity endangers its audiovisual rights and diminishes their value.

The TGI ordered the streaming site to remove all content and links to all matches in competitions organised by the French LFP (Ligue 1, Ligue 2, Coupe de la Ligue) or receive of a fine of €5,000 per day, per link. Rojadirecta must also publish a statement informing users of the illegal nature of these links on its website. Finally, Rojadirecta must pay €100,000 in damages to the LFP, for non-material damages suffered.

"This ruling will allow us to initiate proceedings against other sites engaged in the same activity as Rojadirecta," said Jérôme Perlemuter, head of legal affairs at…